Labor activists ramped up their push for higher wages for fast-food workers with demonstrations Thursday that blocked traffic in a number of cities and resulted in what organizers said were hundreds of arrests.

The acts of civil disobedience by workers from McDonald's Corp. and other big chains were an effort to draw more attention to a two-year campaign backed by a major labor union to increase fast-food wages to $15 an hour—more than twice the federal minimum wage of $7.25 that many such workers now earn—and to gain the right to organize.

Organizers said they planned the disruptions, with workers and community activists that support their cause taking part in civil-disobedience training to prepare for the coordinated demonstrations in 150 cities, including New York, Detroit, Little Rock, Ark., and Las Vegas.

The organizers said 436 people involved in the protests had been arrested as of midafternoon across several cities for obstructing traffic and other disorderly conduct. In Kansas City, Mo., 47 people were arrested outside of a McDonald's for sitting in the middle of the street blocking a highway entrance, according to the Kansas City Police Department.

"McDonald's restaurants are open for business as usual and welcoming customers," McDonald's said in a statement early Thursday, adding that it hadn't received reports of service disruptions. The company suggested that protesters were being paid to participate. "We reiterate that these aren't 'strikes' but are staged demonstrations in which people are being transported to fast-food restaurants," it said.

"Workers aren't getting paid to strike," said Kendall Fells, organizing director of Fast-Food Forward, the group organizing the campaign, which is backed by the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU. He said that some workers who are losing pay by participating in the demonstrations are getting some financial support from colleagues, as is common in labor actions. "Rather than try to deflect attention from its low wages, McDonald's should listen to its workers and the president and raise wages," he said.

The wage campaign already had been growing in scope and gaining increased notice in recent months. In May, McDonald's temporarily closed one of the five buildings at its Oakbrook, Ill., headquarters after protesters marched on the suburban Chicagocampus.

President
Barack Obama,
who is pushing to increase the federal minimum wage, highlighted the protests in a speech on Labor Day. "All across the country right now, there is a national movement going on made up of fast food workers organizing to lift wages so they can provide for their families with pride and dignity," he said. "There is no denying a simple truth: America deserves a raise."

Major fast-food companies so far have made no significant concessions to the protesters. But fast-food workers won a victory in July when the National Labor Relations Board determined that McDonald's could be treated as a joint employer with its franchisees in labor complaints. The decision by the NLRB's general counsel came in response to complaints alleging that McDonald's and its franchisees violated the rights of employees involved in protests against the company.

The fast-food workers in Thursday's demonstrations were joined by home-care aides, who also are fighting for higher wages. The SEIU represents hundreds of thousands of home-care workers in the U.S. but hasn't gained a foothold in the fast-food industry.

"I think it is a surprise to the broader employer community that has not seen these kind of tactics in such a public way," said Michael Lotito, a labor lawyer for Littler Mendelson P.C. who represents employers. "I think the message to employers is that it's not just about fast food," he said. "This is just the beginning."